REMEMBERING to say please and thank you is the most important life lesson we can teach our children, according to the nation's parents.

Researchers have revealed a definitive list of 59 things every parent should teach their child following a detailed study carried out among mums and dads in the UK.

And the research revealed Brits deem good manners to be the most important thing we can teach our children with always saying please and thank you ranked the most important lesson (80 per cent) followed by respecting your elders (75 per cent) and having good table manners (73 per cent).

More practical teachings also made the final list including being able to swim (50 per cent), to tie your shoelaces (37 per cent), eating your greens (35 per cent) and being able to bake a cake (17 per cent).

Telling the truth (72 per cent), not talking to strangers (69 per cent) and brushing teeth properly twice a day (67 per cent) made the top 10.

Treating others with kindness and to appreciate wildlife and animals also ranked highly.

Among the smarter entries were life skills such as how to negotiate, avoiding unnecessary dramas and offering a firm handshake.

The study also found while 24 per cent believe it is a mother's job to teach the children life skills, 71 per cent believe it should be shared jointly between parents.

The study also revealed 57 per cent of parents admit to feeling guilty for not being able to find the time to teach kids everything they need to know.

And 51 per cent believed school staff should also be instrumental in coaching life skills.

Parents are clearly worried that their children will reflect badly on them

Psychologist Donna Dawson

A spokesman for Chessington World of Adventures Resort, which commissioned the study of 2,000 parents, said: "As so many parents prepare to send their little adventurers off to school, possibly for the first time in a few weeks, we wanted to discover what life lessons truly count. We're delighted to see being kind and courteous topped the poll."

It also emerged more than three quarters (76 per cent) of parents are focussed on bringing up their youngsters to be "good people".

Only 10 per cent said teaching kids to be well behaved was the most important element of raising children.

Some six per cent felt practical skills would benefit their child later on in life, while 4.5 per cent said good academic ability would take them a long way.

And almost one in three (32 per cent) said they felt pressure from other's parents status updates on social media about the progress of their children.

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Psychologist Donna Dawson who was involved in the study, added "It is interesting that the top three things on the parental teaching list are all to do with 'behaviour', and how the child 'appears' to others.

"Parents are clearly worried that their children will reflect badly on them. And this is just part of the anxiety that parents feel generally.

"We can afford to relax a bit more, as many of the "must do's" on the list are not under their full control, and the burden of teaching is not solely on them.

"It is the little everyday interactions with our children that are the real teachers: what we do, is even more important than what we say.

"However, rather than becoming unduly anxious about it all, parents should take each day as it comes, and remember that they are only human."

THE full list of 59 most important life skills according to British parents: